Gundam Reborn
by Mintbear
Summary: Amuro Ray's son takes up his father's legacy in the midst of a new threat to Federation peace.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Engineers walked around the large hanger bay, some carrying clip boards, others looking at handheld computers. All of them avoided walking into the feet of the new robot which stood in the center of the bay, its shoulders and waist held by retractable clamps. Echoes of voices reverberated throughout the cavernous room, punctuated by beeps and groans of guide booms and equipment vehicles.

The young pilot sat in the cockpit of the robot, the front hatch swung up and open, giving him a somewhat narrow view of the interior of the hanger, and also a nice view through the main hanger doors, out onto the surrounding landscape. But he was not interested in the view. He was interested in getting underway. He had been sitting here for twenty five minutes and was beginning to get impatient.

He looked down at the control sticks in front of him, then around at the other control surfaces. Most were touch screens, but some still had physical interfaces which could be used if needed. He was slightly annoyed at the number of visual displays which wrapped around the inside of the cockpit at eye level. "A pilot was supposed to be good enough not to need so much…help". At least that's what his mother said when she and his father came to visit a month ago. For some reason his father then elbowed her and coughed once, mumbling something about her "needing help when she was out there". He meant to ask her what that meant.

His concentration was suddenly broken by the high pitched whine of an access boom slowly swinging over to the cockpit. On the boom he could see a young woman waving to him, smiling. As the boom reached the cockpit, the woman slowed it down and gave it a few more short changes in direction, in order to align it with her target.

She was a young officer of no more than twenty-five. Her straight strawberry blonde hair fell over her shoulders like a waterfall, and her bright blue-green eyes sparkled beneath long lashes. Her well fitted Federation uniform didn't try to hide her attractive, feminine figure, and she had a graceful way of moving which calmed him every time he was around her.

"Hi there, Ensign!" she greeted happily as she stepped from the boom platform to the cockpit ramp.

"Hey." He replied, "How's it going?" She immediately leaned over him and began hooking his uniform up to cabled wires which were hanging from control panels on either side of his seat. The flight suit itself was there not only to help the pilot to better interface with the robot, but also to monitor the pilot's vital signs as he or she performed tests in the unit. He wasn't too fond of the suit, but knew that the data they receive will help make a better robot.

"Fine." she said, still busying herself with the cables, "Just coming by to hook you up and make sure everything's ready to go." She snapped the each of the matching connectors together, making sure to keep everything untangled. As she hooked him up to the robot, he couldn't help but to catch a pleasant whiff of her hair. He loved that smell.

"Just make sure they actually launch this time." he said, "I don't want to be sitting here waiting two hours only to find that they have to cancel due to a faulty coolant valve."

"Don't worry." she said, "That was just a one time thing."

He gave a noncommittal grunt of acknowledgement as she continued wiring his flight suit and checking the readings. Then he remembered something he wanted to ask her.

"Hey," he said, "What was up with you being gone last week?" She looked up and brushed her hair out of her face.

"Last week? Yeah, it was my mom's birthday and I decided to go back home and visit for a few days."

"Did your family do anything fun while you were back there?"

"Oh, I don't have a 'family' in that way." she corrected, still checking gauges, "Just her and my grandparents." A curious look came over his face.

"What happened to your dad?" he asked, "Are they divorced?" She gave a light chuckle and shook her head.

"No", she said, "He died before I was born. Actually, he knew my mom for just a few days before he was killed."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"That's okay." she said, giving him a quick smile. "He's seen as a hero on my colony, though not as big a hero as your father."

The pilot frowned. Would everyone stop bringing up his father? He _knows_ he was a hero. He _knows_ everyone idolizes him. He just wished everyone would stop trying to make such a big deal out of it.

She saw the scowl on his face and gave him a light punch in the arm.

"Cheer up" she said playfully, "You're dad's the hero of the Federation, and your mom's a famous doctor. You have nothing to frown about."

"Whatever." he grumbled.

Down below, a Lieutenant walked up to the robot and called up to the two. He couldn't be more than twenty years old.

"Hey, Mackenzie!" he shouted, "Stop flirting with the Ensign and hurry up. We want to test the robot today, ya know." Mackenzie turned her head to face the Lieutenant and stuck out her tongue.

"Oh, go blow it out your ass, Uraki." she yelled back, obviously enjoying the informal banter. The pilot gave her a worried look.

"You shouldn't tell Kiyoshi off like that, Rachel." he whispered, concerned for her breach in protocol.

"Relax, Tem." she soothed, "I'm a civilian. What's he gonna do, court-martial me? Besides, he thinks he's such the big shot 'cause he grew up here. But he's just a blow hard." With that she kissed him on the tip of his nose and went back to prepping him for the flight.

Shrugging off the insult, Uraki turned his attention to the pilot.

"And Ensign Ray," Uraki said up to him.

"Yes, sir!" he called back, slightly irritated.

"I want to test the Gundam's maneuverability while avoiding enemy suits, so be prepared for some G-forces, okay?"

"Understood, sir." came his reply.

"And no puking."

"Yes sir!" Ray acknowledged, remembering the time where the g-forces caused him to unexpectedly lose his lunch. That was embarrassing. Uraki walked off, leaving Rachel and Tem alone again. She gave him a quick glance over, straightened the collar of his flight suit, then kissed him on the cheek.

"Good luck" she encouraged. He smiled weakly.

"Thanks." he replied, "I'll see you for dinner when we're done with this?"

"You bet." she said, as she stepped back on to the boom and lowered the front canopy into place, locking him inside. The whole cockpit suddenly lit up like an electronic billboard, and he could hear the Gundam's engines powering up behind him.

He was ready for launch.


	2. Chapter 2

The Gundam screamed out of the hanger bay with a rush so great that several unprepared people were knocked off of their feet. As he cleared the launch rail, Tem Ray tightened his stomach and bore down to fight the urge to vomit. He was considered one of the most promising new pilots of his tactical wing, but still hadn't gotten past the extreme acceleration felt at launch. Every fiber of his being wanted to throw up and black out. Even the suit, which was designed to minimize the G-forces, did little to quell his discomfort. He must have inherited his queasiness from his mother. Damn it.

The acceleration lessened, and Tem was able to relax. As usual, his tensing up caused him to sweat profusely, and he was soaked to the skin. Ignoring that, he began examining the many controls of his new suit. Much of it was touch screens, holographic displays, and voice activated systems. But he still had old style cockpit monitors, and a pair of trigger laden joysticks. He always liked the joysticks. They gave him a feeling of being what his father once called "a fighter pilot." The sticks allowed for precise but deliberate control.

The holo-monitor to the left of Tem gave a series of rapid beeps, indicating that the "dummy" suit was approaching. The dummy suit was not in fact an autonomous robot, but a much disarmed Mobile Suit, designed to help the Gundam pilot test their robot's abilities in realistic combat. Though the dummy suit was not armed with artillery or live ammunition, it still carried a Class V Medium laser sword, full length shield, and several defensive armaments such as smoke bombs and flack.

Tem angled the decent of the Gundam to intercept the dummy suit, which by his readout was identified as "Simulation Mobile Suit, Type Zero Eight", or SMS-08. He flipped the switch to communicate with the pilot.

"SMS-08, this is Ensign Tem Ray in the RX-101 Gundam Sabre. Do you read me?"

The static hissed for a moment, and then a husky but velvet female voice came through. It had a twinge of both Russian and Japanese accent, and was reputed to melt men's hearts like the sirens of ancient myth.

"Roger, Gundam. This is SMS-08 standing by for training combat maneuvers. How's it going kid?" Tem's face cracked a wide smile and he nearly laughed with surprise.

"Commander Irina Amada?" Tem called, "You're back!" The Commander chuckled at her comrade's enthusiasm, then brushed a lock of hair out of her face.

"That's right." she said, "You been holding down the fort since I left?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Good. Now let's get this Gundam tested so we can get back."

"Acknowledged, Commander!" Tem answered joyfully. He immediately engaged Gundam's thrusters, sending it up like a bottle rocket in order to gain altitude. The majority of the testing would be in evasive maneuvers, and given that both suits would be accelerating to battle velocity, they required a great deal of airspace. Bringing the Gundam around to line it up with Irina's SMS, Tem brought up the first set of objectives on his right monitor, then began accelerating towards his superior officer.

--

Dr. Rachel Mackenzie walked over to one of the launch consoles in the cavernous hanger bay and linked her personal data pad to it, then began downloading the recorded launch data. Later she would compare this data against the required norms which were specified by the designers, tactical experts, and medical staff assigned to the Sabre Project.

"Doctor Mackenzie!"

She blinked twice and turned towards the voice which had called her. It was Lt. Cmdr. Kiyoshi Uraki. He was walking rapidly up to her, and he looked pissed. She steadied herself for a verbal screaming. Instead, Uraki grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the other technicians, supposedly so they could talk in private.

When they were sufficiently far from the other people, he let her go.

"Don't you ever, _ever_ tell me to blow anything "out my ass" in front of another officer ever again!" he hissed between his teeth. "The next time you do that, I'll have you reported to your superiors for sowing disrespect among ranks!"

"Kiyoshi" she said smugly "You couldn't report the weather if it rained on your face. The fact is that I may wear a Federation uniform, but I'm a civilian. See?" She pointed to the bars on her collar which designated her as a civilian. "And being a rather important person on this project, I have more privilege and authority than you do." Uraki wasn't fazed.

"I don't care if you owned this project!" he snarled, "You make a comment again like the one you made in front of Ensign Ray, I'll see that you're off this project for good!" Now Rachel wasn't smiling. It took a lot to tip Rachel's mood from good to bad, but threats could pretty much do it. She leaned into Kiyoshi's face.

"Kiyoshi?" she said, her voice lilting musically. Uraki's eyes narrowed.

"What." Rachel began thrusting the first two fingers of her right hand into Kiyoshi's chest.

"Blow…it…out…your…ass."

Kiyoshi was about to scream something completely obscene when his com-phone chirped wildly. He reached down to his belt and grabbed the phone, then opened it and put it to his ear.

"Yes?" he acknowledged. Then a long, ominous silence. "When? ...You sure? ...What was their last known telemetry? ... I'll be right up." He closed the phone, his face having gone pale white. Rachel's breathing stopped for a split second, and her heart began to race.

"What?" she asked, hoping that it wasn't what she thought. "What's wrong?"

Kiyoshi paused for a moment, breathing deeply, trying to find the right words.

"Tem and Irina," he said, his voice quivering on the second name, "Tracking lost their signals five minutes ago. From the last transmission heard from Tem, it looks like they accidentally collided mid-air, then fell to the earth." Rachel gasped, her eyes watering up.

"How?" she said, her voice cracking, "Are they alright?" Kiyoshi shook his head.

"We don't know. Tracking doesn't even know where they went down. All they know is that they lost signal, then the comm-channels went dead. They're starting a search of the area."

Rachel tried her best to keep control of her emotions, but she was shaking uncontrollably. Instead of comforting her, Kiyoshi turned away and began walking to one of the turbo elevators which lead up to the Tracking and Surveillance room. Rachel followed.

--

Tem regained consciousness to the feeling of warmth running down the side of his head. His right eye didn't open immediately; apparently something sticky was keeping his eyelids closed. After gingerly disengaging the release on his helmet, he pushed it off, letting it topple over onto the floor of the cockpit. He then reached up with his gloved hand and wiped at his face. When he drew his hand back, it was smeared with red. He groaned miserably, and then coughed once. Wiggling his toes and fingers told him that he still had feeling and movement, which was good. But the warmth on his head worried him. Even the smallest head wounds could bleed profusely, but he didn't know if it was just a scratch, or a gaping gash.

Focusing on the controls ahead of him, he gained his orientation. He was mostly in the right direction, but tilting slightly to the right and forward. From his inner balance, he could tell that the robot had also rolled a bit. The straps were holding him in his seat. He looked at the consoles in front of him, and found that they were still mostly glowing. That was also good. He reached his left hand to the lighted comm square on the console and touched the blinking light. Then he cleared his throat, gurgling and coughing up some blood in the process.

"Commander Amada. Come in!" No response. "Commander Irina Amada, please come in!" Still nothing.

There are times when silence is golden. When it should be treasured, revered, and enjoyed. But hanging in his seat, knowing that Irina wasn't responding, Tem could clearly see that this was not one of those times. Feeling light headed, he began seeing little white star dots dance in his vision. He blinked hard, but to no avail. As the colors in front of him melted and reversed into negatives of themselves, Tem gave in and closed his eyes. He then promptly passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

The doors to Tracking and Surveillance opened with a pneumatic hiss. It was a gigantic room, filled with several thirty foot tall monitors, and dozens of interface terminals. Kiyoshi immediately identified the lead officer in charge, and briskly walked over to him with Rachel in tow. As Kiyoshi approached, the officer turned and saluted.

"Report." said Kiyoshi as he returned the salute. The officer leaned down to one of the consoles and tapped a few buttons, then directed everyone's gaze up to the giant monitors in front of them.

"We lost tracking of them right there, sir." said the officer, pointing to a now highlighted area of the front monitor. "The two mobile suits were performing a type 341 evasion maneuver when apparently Commander Amada failed to alter trajectory after Ensign Ray changed course to intercept."

Rachel looked up at the monitor, then down at the console. A furrow formed between her eyebrows as she scanned the data.

"Amada failed to alter trajectory?"

"Yes, ma'am. She just sat there as he rushed towards her."

"But this doesn't make any sense." she said hesitantly, "Commander Amada's suit wasn't directly in Ensign Ray's path. In fact, they were a full forty meters apart, and moving in straight lines. There was no way for them to collide."

The officer nodded knowingly.

"That's the strange part, because as Ensign Ray was moving past the Commander, she suddenly changed course, and rammed directly into him. That's when we got the comm signal that something had gone wrong."

Kiyoshi was silent for a moment. Then he looked up at the monitor.

"So, Irina just…hurled herself at Tem, for no apparent reason?"

"Yes, sir." said the officer reflexively.

"Sorry, that's not possible. Irina isn't that careless, or impuls--."

Kiyoshi's statement ended abruptly as something from the side of his eye caught his attention. A set of numerical figures on the lower left corner of the gigantic projection monitor had suddenly enlarged, filling up the center area of the screen. Rachel pointed up at them.

"What's _that_?" she asked inquisitively. Both Kiyoshi and the other officer looked up to what she was pointing to. The officer answered her question.

"We don't know exactly, ma'am." he said honestly, "It seems to be a massive heat buildup just to the side and back of Commander Amada's suit. We think it was most likely her suit's thrusters firing at the wrong time. That's…probably what caused her to slam into Ensign Ray."

Kiyoshi frowned. The officer would be correct; except that such an enormous energy level wouldn't be produced by a Mobile Suit firing its thrusters…it would result from the thruster system exploding. But if that had happened, they would have registered Irina's suit vaporizing, not slamming into Tem's. So what _did_ happen?

"Probably", he mumbled. Something inside told him that the officer either didn't know the whole picture, or wasn't giving it away. But something didn't add up, and Kiyoshi wasn't going to stand around and just wait for something to happen.

"Find them." he said as he walked back out of the Surveillance Room.

--

Ensign Tem Ray climbed shakily out of the Gundam and looked around. Seeing the innumerable trees in all directions, he realized that he had crashed deep inside a forest, taking several trees with him and allowing bright sunlight to hit the floor of the woods. It's illumination of the area was breathtaking, and it also fell directly on him and his robot.

But Tem knew that he couldn't spend much time admiring the scenery. He climbed up to the top of the Gundam and looked in every direction, hoping to spot Commander Irina Amada, and her SMS – 08. It didn't take him long. Not fifty meters away, the large hand of Commander Amada's robot was visible, and Tem knew that both robots had stayed intact after the collision.

He ran towards the SMS, calling Irina's name. As he approached, he smelled a stench of melted synthetics and heated metal, and knew something had gone terribly wrong. Tem climbed up to the top of the frame and surveyed the rest of the robot, hoping that he could pilot the two of them out with it. But to his horror, the right side of the giant machine was melted and burned, and the right arm was completely missing. Only a deformed stump was left in its place.

After finding the emergency egress switch, Tem reached a blood smeared hand up to flip a panel which concealed the switch. A quick jerk and the panel came off. Underneath was a round dial, almost like those one would find on a stove, or old style amplifier. But this dial was at least four times larger, and had a recessed thumb grip. Tem grabbed the device, and turned it clockwise.

The front panels on the giant robot's chest immediately cracked open like the gates of a mansion, swinging away from each other. As they slowly parted, letting light penetrate the inside, Ensign Tem Ray could see that Commander Amada was seriously hurt. There was blood all over the instruments, and also on her uniform. Though her body seemed to be bending correctly (no broken bones); she may have had internal injuries, as they aren't always visible without an examination.

Not wasting any more time, Tem climbed halfway inside the robot and unbuckled Irina from her cockpit seat. Her body was limp, but as Tem checked for a pulse, he got one. After making sure that she was not impaled on anything, he wrapped his arms under her body and legs, and lifted her up and out of the robot's cockpit. He was still a bit disoriented from the crash, but he knew that he had to get her to a place of safety. With Irina held tightly against him, Tem slid and stepped down the robot to the ground, where he laid his wounded commander gently on the forest floor. He made sure to keep her feet above her head by propping them up on a large rock. Then he scrambled back up to the cockpit and removed her robot's emergency and survival backpack. The radio in her robot was disabled, but he barely noticed, since his immediate thoughts were on Irina's safety. He looped his arms through the straps and clicked the support bands around his chest and waist. Grabbing a few other smaller packs, he then closed the cockpit and slid back down to where Irina lay.

Upon reaching the bottom, Tem checked his comrade's vitals again. Thankfully, she was still breathing. She also had a very strong heartbeat. He hoped that she wouldn't worsen, as he only had the basic medical supplies, and was not prepared for life threatening injuries. As he thought on whether to leave the robots or to stay, he heard a moaning come from the commander. She was waking up! Tem looked down to see her open her bright blue eyes and blink blurrily into his.

"What…what…wh-what happened?" she asked weakly. Apparently, she was still very disoriented and couldn't focus on anything beyond the last few moments she was conscious. Tem brushed her hair from her eyes.

"We crashed." he said slowly, "I found you a few minutes ago. How do you feel?" Irina reached up to gingerly feel her body and make sure there wasn't anything seriously wrong with her chest or arms. There wasn't. Then she tried to move her legs, but stopped immediately and let out a cry of pain.

"What is it?" Tem asked, worriedly, "Is your leg broken?" Trying not to give in to the pain and break down crying, Irina gave a quick bit of nodding, then breathed in sharply. Her jaw was clenched, and Tem could tell that she was fighting the urge to scream or grab her leg. He reached into his medpack and pulled out a pair of cutting scissors. Starting with a small snip through the fabric of Irina's pant leg, Tem cut a significant amount of material away, only to find that her leg was swollen and bruised. Suddenly, the medical teaching Tem had learned from his mother activated somewhere in his brain, and he switched from soldier to field doctor.

From observation alone, he could tell that there was no puncture of the bone, but there must have been a fracture inside to cause the pain his fellow officer was in. He lightly pressed and moved her leg, and determined that it was a simple fracture. A quick set would help to stabilize it enough to ease the pain, and without warning, he quickly twisted her leg and set the bone. Irina gave out a loud shriek and passed out from the pain. Ignoring this, Tem fished around the medpack and pulled out two telescoping splint rods. He then quickly used the cut up material from her pant leg to help make a splint around the girl's leg, and gently moved it back to where the other leg was.

--

Kiyoshi sat staring at his tea, his head resting on folded arms. Across from him, Rachel was quietly sipping her coffee, trying to keep her mind off of Tem. Kiyoshi looked up at her, then back down.

"They'll be fine, Doctor." he mumbled, his voice not sounding very reassuring, "Irina's an excellent pilot and she's been in worse than this." Ignoring his statement, Rachel set her coffee down and turned her head to look out the window. The sun would be setting in an hour or two, and they still hadn't head back from the others.

"I hope so." She finally responded, her voice sad and distant. "Tem and I were supposed to be at dinner right now. Now I don't even know if he's alive."

Kiyoshi sighed again and rolled his eyes. He wasn't much of a romantic, and couldn't stand the emotional baggage which most people carry around when they were in a relationship. His romance with Commander Irina Amada was not secret to anyone, but was certainly not one filled with drama and intrigue. He was the practical one; she was his emotional balance, the hopeless romantic. Thinking of Irina somehow made him think of his parents, Kou and Nina Uraki. He immediately shoved the memory to the back of his mind. The death of one's parents, especially if it was recent, could turn even the happiest of memories from wistful to bittersweet.

Rachel saw the look in Kiyoshi's eyes turn cloudy and gave his arm a nudge.

"Hey, Earth to Uraki." she said, "You okay?" Kiyoshi blinked and raised his head up from his arms.

"Huh?" he whispered, "Yes. I'm fine. I was just thinking about Irina, and my parents. And what _her_ parents will say when she brings me home." Rachel bobbed her eyebrows once and took another sip of her coffee.

"Her mom and dad, huh?" she said, "Must be nice to have both of them. My dad was a Zeon soldier who died late in the war. I went to his grave recently." Kiyoshi's interest was now piqued.

"What were you doing there?" he asked, curious. Rachel looked down at the coffee, and it took her a moment to collect her thoughts.

"Just visiting." she paused a moment, then said, "I read his tombstone, actually. It said: 'Bernard Wiseman. UC 0061 – 0080. We will always love you.' Then I placed flowers there and it made me think about what life would have been if he were still alive. Mom says that he was the first and only man she ever fell for. Even now she misses him terribly. He must have been one helluva guy."

"Oh." was all Kiyoshi could respond with. Nothing else needed to be said.

Both she and Kiyoshi were silent for several minutes. Then Kiyoshi slugged his tea down in one shot and hit the table with his fist.

"This is bullshit." He growled in an angry voice, "I haven't loved Irina for two years only to lose her now." He stood up from the table, pushed his chair away, and walked away from the table, leavingRachel to her drink.

--

The tent which Tem had set up was small, but adequate. Outside the rain poured so heavily a person couldn't see more than a few meters in front of them. Inside, he was fiddling with a component of his Gundam, hoping to fix it with the tools which were kept in a small compartment in the Gundam's torso. The repair tools couldn't replace a full scale maintainance facility, but they were enough to make simple repairs.

Next to Tem, Irina lay sleeping. Tem had cleaned and bandanged her wounds, and had given her a sedative to help ease the pain. He hoped that search parties would find them soon, but considering how far off course they were, he was doubtful that help would reach them before late the next day.

He put the handheld crystal harmonizer down and grabbed a sushi roll, popping it into his mouth. To wash it down, he took a drink pouch filled with green tea and drank from a straw which extended out of the top of it. It was cold, and slightly bitter,but still refreshing. He wondered if Irina would want some of the rations, knowing that like him, she was half Japanese. Oddly enough, with the exception of sushi, miso soup, and udon noodles, Tem had actually taken to his mother's French cuisine, which irritated his father to no end.

He put the drink pouch down and crawled to the front of the tent and unzipped the flaps. The sky was dark and cold. And humid.

He hated rain.

--

The monitor flickered on and a stream of information popped up. A hand touched a few points on the screen and the window changed to show live video. A few more taps on the monitor glass and the image magnified. Blurry but distinct, two suits could be seen being hurled away from a massive energy blast. A finger touched another point and the image froze.

Sitting at the monitor, an aged, but regal face stared intensely at the image. The eyes were sharp and piercing, the lines in the brow were hard. A high forehead was crowned with a ponytail of blonde hair which was slowly turning white, and being held back in a low ponytail. The person to whom the face belonged slowly sat back in the chair, the sound of leather squeaking low at the added pressure and movement. He wore a blue suit and tie, his shined black shoes crossed at the ankles.

From behind him, a door opened and an officer stepped through. He barely turned his head towards the sound.

"Yes?", he said, his voice low and masculine.

"Uh, sir, we analyzed the image."

"And?"

"We were able to verify that it's the new Gundam." The suited man turned the chair around so that he could see the sillhouette of the officer in the doorway.

"Did you get audio?"

"Yes sir. The pilot was some kid named...Tem...Ray?"

"Ray?", the older man said, calmly making sure he heard the officer correctly.

"Yes sir. Ray. Why?"

"Did the suits land intact?"

"We believe so, sir." said the officer, a hint of doubt permeating her femininevoice. "Would you like us to retrieve the pilots?"

"No." the man said softly, "Find them...and kill them." Then he turned back towards the monitors, his fingers pressed at the tips in front of his face.

"Yes, Mr. Aznable. Right away." The officer turned and exited, the door closing behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

Tem woke to birdsong, and he lay there, looking at the side of the tent. Though he wasn't thrilled with waking in a sleeping bag in a tent while camping in the middle of the woods, things could be worse. And he enjoyed waking to birds too. They reminded of his childhood back on Side 6, where his family lived in a nice home away from the bustle of Libot Colony.

His childhood was a happy one; playing with the neighborhood kids, exploring the woods and hills around his home, and helping his father with various inventions. It was true that he didn't have any siblings, but he had enough friends so that he was never lonely. And when he wasn't with his friends or playing with Haro, the family's spherical little robot, he was usually watching television or playing video games. Every night his father would read a story or two to him before he fell asleep, and on weekends his family would usually take a trip to places like the zoo or the museum.

It was always obvious to Tem that his parents loved each other. They never got angry or yelled at each other, and they always showed affection, even if it was a bit muted. Sometimes he'd even catch them giggling and tickling each other, only for them to stop and look slightly sheepish when they saw him staring at them curiously. There was an unspoken bond between them which Tem noticed early on. This seemed to strengthen their love, and Tem wondered if he would be as in love with someone as much as they were.

Once when he was very little, he asked his parents how they met. His mother blushed a bit and responded, "Your father rescued me from a man who was trying to hurt our home." When he asked if the man was 'a bad man', he saw a look of sadness in her eyes. "No," she said softly, "He wasn't a bad man. He just thought that he was better than us." Tem was to later learn that the man was his uncle, Casval Rem Daikun, and that he fought on the side of the Zeon. His mother said that she would always love her brother, but would never forgive him. His father didn't even like talking about the subject, and only voiced his opinion by angrily growling the name "Char" under his breath.

Tem rolled over and sat up to check on his tent companion, Irina. He checked her pulse and found it strong, then made sure that her breathing was deep and quiet, which it was. He unzipped his sleeping bag and crawled out, then slipped into a jumpsuit which he brought with him from the Gundam. He organized the tent a bit and found the self-cooling container which held two weeks worth of food. It would last Tem and Irina a week. Opening it, Tem grabbed an individually bagged breakfast sandwich and a mocha flavored coffee pouch. The coffee was premixed and hydrated, and Tem merely had to poke a straw into it to drink. The sandwich was croissant with strawberry jam, as he loved croissants and made sure that his foodstuffs always included them.

He opened the front tent flap and looked outside. It was sunny, the birds were chirping, and there was a cool breeze rustling the leaves. It couldn't be later than six o'clock in the morning. He smiled at the agreeable weather and popped his head back inside the tent to continue his morning meal.

As he ate his small breakfast and wondered whether to try to get back to base or to stay put, he heard a shuffle and sigh behind him. He stopped mid bite and looked behind him to see Irina sit up yawning, her hair a tangled mess. Since Tem needed to tend to her wounds the day before, he had to remove her flight suit, leaving her in her bra and panties.

Now she stared blearily at him, quickly gaining focus. She brought her hands up to her face and rubbed her eyes. As she let her hands rest back in her lap, Tem couldn't help to notice her regal beauty. Large blue eyes with thick, long lashes were framed by light brown hair which was short on the sides and back, but hung down into her face. Her mixed European-Japanese heritage gave her face an angular, but not unfeminine look, and her slender body and small but round breasts only added to the imagery of a pixie or fairy of ancient myth. If it weren't for the engagement ring on her left hand, her superior rank, and Tem's current involvement with Rachel, he would have been tempted to ask Irina out on a date. But he quickly tossed the idea out of his mind.

"Good morning, Ensign", she said, yawning again. "Where are we?" Tem swallowed his bite of sandwich and took a sip from his coffee pouch.

"Somewhere in a forest, Commander." he said, "How are you feeling?" Irina looked at Tem's sandwich and her stomach growled.

"Hungry." she answered, "I haven't eaten since when? Yesterday morning?"

"About that," Tem said, reaching over to where another jumpsuit lay. "I brought your food container into the tent yesterday, so there's breakfast if you want it." He tossed her the jumpsuit and she caught it in mid flight.

"Thanks" she said as she slowly stood to put on the clothes. Tem took the opportunity to stare for a moment. Her bra and panties were a cream colored satin, and very suggestively framed her chest and hips. Even with her leg in a makeshift splint, Tem was mesmerized by Irina's graceful but sultry movements as she unfolded the form fitting jumpsuit and wriggled into it. Noticing Tem's stare, Irina smiled warmly at him.

"Like what you see, Ensign?" she teased, posing alluringly for him, her cleavage clearly exposed. Tem blushed and quickly turned away.

"Uh, sorry ma'am." He apologized. "I didn't mean to stare." Irina giggled and adjusted the suit.

"That's okay." she said, "Kyoshi likes it too." Tem snorted his disapproval.

"Kyoshi's a dick." he growled. Irina zipped up the suit and sat back down to eat breakfast.

"He can be sometimes." she said as she looked for something appetizing, "But he's usually a very sweet and gentle man. He just has a high level of expectations from the people around him. You have to get to know him to see it. He's a lot like his father was: normally really nice, but sometimes impatient with life." She found a nutrition bar and an orange juice pouch and began to eat.

"So" she said after taking a drink from the pouch, "Do you know how far from base we landed?" Tem grabbed the locating unit and frowned.

"Our last telemetry said at least several hundred kilometers. We're days away. And I doubt that my robot is functional, much less yours."

"What do you mean 'much less yours'? " Tem looked at Irina in a way which told her that he was dead serious.

"The right side of your robot is melted into slag, totally inoperable. I'm surprised you didn't suffer fatal burns." Irina's eyes went wide.

"How the hell--?"

"I don't know. Nothing exploded, since that would have destroyed the robot and killed you. From the damage, it looks like a huge particle beam cannon grazed past you. But…" Tem stopped mid sentence.

"What is it?" Irina asked. She could see that Tem was trying to concentrate on something.

"Shh." he hushed her, "I hear the whine of a descending mobile suit outside. But it's not one of ours."

--

"What do you mean you don't know where he is?" The man's voice was very angry, and touched with a hint of concern. Kyoshi ground his teeth, trying not to blow his cool, but it was becoming increasingly difficult not to yell at him. The man was standing opposite him, his arms crossed, eyes set directly on Kyoshi's. His red hair was combed straight back, and his goatee was neatly trimmed. Though he wore the turtleneck, pants, and coat of a civilian, the pips on his coat's collar gave his rank as a retired General. Asian eyes betrayed his Japanese heritage and burned with a sense of anger which Kyoshi had only previously seen in drill instructors. But something else partially kept Kyoshi's attention.

Sitting down next to where the man was standing was the most attractive woman Kyoshi had ever seen. She was dressed in a white short sleeved blouse with a low cut collar and a pair of well fitting denim pants. On her feet were a pair of attractive ankle-wrap sandals, and she also had a small purse at her side. Her blonde hair was straight and shoulder length, with bangs parted down the middle and a few wisps hanging in front of her silver blue eyes. A thin headband kept the rest of her hair from falling into her face. Though she looked sad and worried, Kyoshi could see that she descended from a proud and royal lineage. She was breathtakingly beautiful.

Having taken a fraction of a second to study the two visitors, Kyoshi returned his attention to the man, who was waiting for an answer.

"What I mean, Mr. Ray, is that we have no idea where your son and Commander Amada crash landed." he answered truthfully, "And it doesn't help that you're barging into my office demanding answers when we don't even have them yet. When we find something, we will contact you. For now, please leave."

The older man sighed and dropped his arms, then brought a hand up to his forehead and began massaging it with his thumb and fingers.

"Just one more question: Did you have any support craft on his flank when he was practicing maneuvers?"

"No sir." Kyoshi responded, "We didn't think them necessary." From next to the man came the voice of the woman. It was barely retaining her calm, and sounded on the verge of breaking down into sobs.

"Exactly, Commander." she chastised slowly, her words biting into Kyoshi like a cobra, "You didn't think. And now my son is missing, and possibly -- ." She stopped, for her voice was already trembling. The man put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey," he consoled as she wiped her eyes, "They'll find him." His stare turned back to Kyoshi and grew cold and hard. "Won't you?"

Kyoshi was about to answer when the door opened and Rachel stepped in. She nodded in respect to the General and his wife, and walked up to Kyoshi with her large clipboard. Kyoshi noticed that she was in full flight suit.

"We're all suited up and ready to search for Tem and Irina." she informed him, handing him the object, "We're just waiting for you." Kyoshi signed the clipboard and handed it back.

"I'll be suited in fifteen." he said. "Tell them to get my mobile suit ready." Rachel nodded and looked at the General.

"You're welcome to come along too, General" she offered. "We'd be honored to have you with us." The moment the words escaped her lips, she saw a light sparkle in his eyes. His wife took his hand in hers.

"You should go, Amuro." She encouraged. "He's your son, and he needs you." Amuro smiled down at his wife lovingly

"He's yours too, Sayla. If you truly want me to join them…then I'll go." Kyoshi rolled his eyes and walked to the door.

"We leave in twenty." he said, "If you want to join us, sir, get suited."

Eighteen minutes later both Kyoshi and Rachel were suited up and ready to go. Four other MS pilots were standing by as support suits, and even Amuro was in his MS suit and running through his robot's final check. He looked down to the ground and saw Sayla standing there. She smiled up at him proudly and blew him a kiss. Smiling back, he mouthed the words 'I love you'. She returned the affection.

Then Amuro turned on the group audio link and cleared his throat.

"Launch Command, this is General Amuro Ray, ready to launch!" Through the speakers in his helmet, he heard a cacophony of encouraging cheers from the other MS pilots, and then felt himself pushed back into his seat as his suit accelerated out of the bay.

Within minutes, he was joined in the air by Kyoshi, Rachel, and the four support pilots.

'Just like old times', he mused confidently.

--

Irina reached into her uniform and slowly withdrew an automatic handgun, then slipped it into Tem's grip.

"Full clip" she whispered, "Thirty rounds." Tem tucked the weapon into his jumpsuit's hip pocket.

"What about you?" he asked. Irina smiled and withdrew both another handgun, and a very large and serrated knife.

"I'm fine." she said. Tem nodded and unzipped the front of the tent, then cautiously looked around before exiting. He began to walk over to the MS whose parts he could salvage to repair the Gundam, when a figure shot out of the darkness between the trees. The reflexes which Amuro taught him through fencing as a child immediately took hold, and he turned to meet his attacker. Then the bright metallic flash blinded him, and a feeling of intense pain took hold.


	5. Chapter 5

Tem gritted his teeth as the pain stung into his flesh, slicing into his shoulder and barely missing the joint. He brought his knee up into the attacker's plexus and knocked the wind out of him, then bashed his left elbow into the man's face. Following the hit with a right kick to the ribs, Tem then grabbed his opponent's left arm and twisted it back. He noticed a second knife hidden in the man's back pocket, removed it, and quickly jabbed it into his back. Unfortunately, he stabbed too high. His opponent seized up in a death spasm, then went limp and fell to the ground. Tem released the now dangling arm.

As Tem leaned against Irina's mobile suit to catch his breath, he sized up his dead adversary. The uniform reminded him of the Zeon, but was slightly different. There were fewer markings, and it was a darker color. And the face of the dead man was young. That wasn't normal for an assassin, thought Tem. Assassins are usually older, more experienced.

Irina was already unzipping the opening to the tent when Tem looked up to see her. She saw the dead body on the ground and her actions slowed. Stepping out of the tent, she walked cautiously over to Tem and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she asked, seeing the dark stain on Tem's jumpsuit.

"Yeah" he said, wheezing from shortness of breath. He was ignoring the blood flowing from the wound on his shoulder. "I guess I won."

Irina's eyebrows scrunched up and she peered into the woods.

"I don't see anything else" she said, "But that doesn't mean that there aren't more out there." Tem nodded and exhaled loudly.

"True, but I only heard one mobile suit." he countered, "I think he's it. Whoever sent him probably didn't want to risk sending another person in case he was captured."

Irina looked back at Tem, who was now turning very pale.

"C'mon." she said, "Let's get something on that." The two of them walked back into the tent where she dressed his shoulder and gave him something to keep him from fainting. Then they left the tent, covered the dead body with a tarp, and proceeded to make their way over to her mobile suit where they began salvaging things for the Gundam.

--

A man sat on a patio bench, looking out to the birdfeeder sitting atop a post in the middle of the yard. Several birds were hopping around on the feeder, looking for the choicest seeds, their instinct to act quickly leading their foraging. The man leaned down and ran his hand down his left calf. It felt real. It was real. Though the surgery was now almost two decades ago, he was still in awe that he had it back. Sure, it wasn't the leg he had when he was a young pilot in the Federal Forces. But due to advancements in tissue regeneration, it was his flesh and blood, and not some cybernetic replacement.

The sound of the sliding glass door broke his concentration, and a beautiful woman stepped out onto the patio with a tray of tea and food. She was dressed in a light blue blouse and white skirt, both embroidered; and her white hair was pulled into a low ponytail. He noticed that her navy blue eyes still shown brightly underneath her long lashes, even after all these years, With everything they had been through: the War, marriage, raising a family...she didn't look a day older. But had it been so long since she gave him the locket? He chuckled at the memory of thinking that the picture was of her and her "boyfriend".

Sliding the glass door shut, she smiled and walked over to the patio bench, then sat the tray down on the low table in front of them and sat down herself.

The tea was a Russian blend, black and strong, and served with lemon. Along side the two teacups were an assortment of small, bite sized sandwiches and different kinds of sushi. Mostly to acquiesce to her favor, he had become used to Russian tea after they had married, though he still preferred Japanese green tea. He remembered a time when she tried to make green tea using the samovar in the kitchen. He still chuckled about that.

"Do you remember when we first met?" he asked her. She stopped for a moment, gathering her memories. Then she smiled warmly.

"I sure do." she replied, "I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you."

"You did?"

"Yep! When I exited the suit, I expected my enemy to hunt me down, not bandage me up. Why did you do that, anyway? You didn't even know me."

"I don't know. You were hurt, I had to help."

"Which is why I love you so much" she said, leaning over and kissing him. He kissed her back. Then they went to fixing up their tea.

"Have you heard from Irina?" he asked as she poured the tea from a small porcelain teapot. She stopped a moment and blinked at him.

"Not yet" she said, "Why? Were you waiting for her to call?" He stretched his back and yawned.

"Well" he replied as he leaned over and grabbed a piece of sashimi and rice and popped it into his mouth, "She said she would give us a ring after she got off work. She wanted to surprise you for your birth--" His sentence was cut off from a high chirp. Someone was at the front door. He stood to see who it was and she stood too.

"I'll get it." she said. He waved for her to sit back down as he opened the sliding door.

"No, no, koishii." he said lovingly, "I'll get it. I'll be right back." She sat back down and he walked through the house to the front door. Opening it, he saw an attractive blonde woman in a lovely pink trench coat standing before him.

"Uh, can I help you?" he asked, vaguely recognizing her. He knew her from somewhere, but wasn't sure where. She extended her hand to shake his and he accepted.

"You're Mr. Shiro Amada?" she asked, giving two shakes and letting go. He nodded.

"I am. And you are…?"

"Sayla Ray." she answered, "May I come in?"

"Wait" he hesitated, "What's this about?"

"Mr. Amada, your daughter and my son have been missing since their mobile suits went down during a training mission yesterday afternoon. And I don't think it was an accident." Shiro turned around and introduced his wife, who had walked up to them, curious as to what Sayla wanted.

"Oh God…um, Ms. Ray, this is my wife, Aina." The two women daintily shook hands.

"Yes, we met at a conference a year or so ago in Helsinki." Sayla said, jarring both Shiro and Aina's memory.

"That's it", Aina remembered. "Your husband and I talked about recent advancements in ablative mobile suit armor." A pause followed.

"Ms. Ray, is our daughter okay? Is she alright?"

"We haven't heard anything yet" answered Sayla, "My husband, Amuro, is leading a search team to find them.

Aina squeezed Shiro's hand in hers, then stepped back a bit and motioned Sayla to come inside.

"Please, come in." she said, "We uh, were about to have tea. Would you like to join us?" Sayla nodded and accepted.

--

The five mobile suits cruised high above the trees, their sensors searching everywhere for their missing compatriots. Amuro Ray leaned back in the pilot's chair, allowing his suit to cruise on autopilot. He checked the readings…nothing. But that didn't surprise him. He had set the sensors to chirp when they located the other suits. What was more important was how to get the data core out of the Gundam without bringing attention to himself. He knew that as soon as the mobile suits were returned to the base, their data cores would be taken down to Information Retrieval and the recorded logs would be analyzed. He could not let that happen. Too much was at stake to let the Federal Forces bungle the Project. He had to get the data core out before they did.

Amuro opened the com-link to Kyoshi's suit.

"Uraki, take Barker and Levin and head further west. I'll take Mackenzie and go east. We should be able to cover more ground that way."

"Yes sir!", came Kyoshi's answer over the intercom. From his cockpit, Amuro could see Kyoshi lead the support suits away to his left. He gave Rachel the instruction to head further east, and the two arced away from center.

--

The trail of cigarette smoke wafted up from the end of his cigarette. No matter. He owned this room, this building, and this corporate complex. It had been his for almost seven years, and nobody had yet figured out what the real intent of his ownership was.

Reaching behind him, he pulled his blonde-white ponytail out from behind his back, where it was being pinned against the office chair. He then laid it carefully over his right shoulder and took the cigarette from between his lips, blowing out the smoke. As he glanced around the table, he could see several heads of major electronics and engineering companies, all of which seemed nervous about being in the same room as him. Maybe it was his reputation. Maybe it was the nature of their meeting. Maybe it was his tie. In any case, he then tapped his cigarette over the glass ashtray, letting the snow-like ashes drop onto the small pile already there. On an impulse he squashed the stub into the pile and let it fall from his fingers. He swiveled his chair away from the table and stood, then took a laser pointer in hand and walked over to a display which covered almost half of the wall next to him.

"Gentlemen" he began, arousing the attention of the men seated at the mahogany and glass conference table, "This meeting is an historic moment for all of us. We are gathered here today to cement a partnership which will lead all of us to prosperity and victory among the stars. Some of us are here to expand their corporation. Some are here to venture into new territory and new ideas. And some, like myself…" At this point he chuckled and touched a button on the laser pointer, "…are here to unify all of us under a single idea, a single purpose."

The men looked around and a low murmuring could be heard. Behind the speaker, the display showed animated diagrams and charts of the various companies, their relationships, and mutual financial investments.

"And what is the fruit of our meeting partnerships? What has been the point of over five years of cooperation and exchange of materials, of ideas and productivity?"

No reply.

"Gentlemen", he continued, his voice slightly louder and more fervent, "I give you, HELIOS! The world's most powerful mining beam!"

Suddenly the lights in the room shut off, and the display changed to a rotating view of an immense beam cutter system, so enormous that the people walking on top of it looked like gnats walking on the back of an elephant.

The noise level in the room jumped, and most of the men seated at the conference table had looks of joy and happy surprise on their faces. But one of the men seemed uncomfortable, and raised his hand.

"Excuse me?" he said above the humdrum, "Excuse me, Mr. Aznable?" The room grew quiet. The man in front of the display nodded upward once to acknowledge him.

"Yes, Mr. Camden?" he said patiently.

"I signed onto this with the knowledge that we were all going to receive a product which was useful and timely. But this…" he waved his hands in the air angrily, "This is some kind of monstrous…thing! How do justify wasting our money on such a pointless…weapon!" The blonde smiled wryly.

"Now, why do you insist that this is a weapon?" he asked, his voice smooth and calming, "Just because I was a war hero doesn't automatically mean I'm designing a weapon. This magnificent piece of technology was designed for all of us to use and prosper from. We can now efficiently mine the Moon, Mars, even sections of Earth, all with a net return of 300 of what we initially invested. This 'weapon', as you call it, will cut costs in mining, speed the acquisition of ore and materials, and help to end the shortage of raw materials which Earth is so desperately in need of. With that being said, do you still have any objections to the device?"

The man wasn't placated.

"I'm not convinced", he chastised, "I want to see how much power it has. And also whether it is truly safe to use in the field. I will not invest in a either a 'turkey', or a useless waste of my time. And if you are thinking of using this to threaten any of us, I will have the Business Association on you so quickly - ."

The host talked over him, cutting him off.

"You want a demonstration?" he asked, "Then I'll give you one." He turned to his secretary and asked mumbled low, as to keep the guests from hearing.

"Are those mobile suits we were tracking here yet?" The secretary nodded.

"Yes, Char." she said, "And we haven't heard back from Janos, either." Char smiled a sly smile.

"Janos was an idiot. I should have sent Markelion. No matter. Target the mobile suites and fire on my mark. Let's give our business friends something tohelp themdecide whether to support me."


	6. Chapter 6

"Any word on where they crashed?" Shiro asked Sayla as Aina poured a cup of tea for her and sat back down.

"They aren't sure." Sayla responded, sipping the tea, "Though contact was lost only fifty kilometers out, they could have been forced to land anywhere in the area. And it's heavily wooded too. Orbital satellites couldn't find any crash path, and their heat signatures are too small to detect from up there."

"At least they're together, right?" asked Aina, hoping for a semblance of good news. Sayla sipped her tea again.

"We believe they are." she said, "And my husband is leading the search and rescue operation. Also, our children have only been missing a day or so, and mobile suits are equipped with the necessary supplies to survive for a week or two. But since we haven't received any communication, we don't know if they're –." Her words caught in her throat and she forced herself to exhale slowly. Aina put her arm around the distraught woman, trying not to go to pieces herself. She looked up for a moment and blinked back tears.

"I have full faith in the General's abilities." Shiro said, trying to instill confidence in the situation, "His presence alone assures me that our children will be found and rescued." Sayla nodded and sniffed, then wiped her eyes with several tissues offered to her by Aina.

"You're right." she said, wadding up the tissues into a ball. "Amuro is out there. Everything will be fine."

--

Barker and Levin were gone, instantly vaporized. They didn't even have time to scream.

Kyoshi reflexively jammed his controls to the left and increased to full power to escape the energy blast. The G-forces from such a sudden acceleration nearly caused him to pass out, but both his flight suit and the shaking of his MS from the laser beam kept him conscious. He fought the urge to vomit from nausea, then started seeing white spots in his vision. Realizing that he was still holding his breath, he exhaled, feeling the cool rush of blood away from his face and neck. The spots disappeared, and he panted heavily. His suit was soaked with sweat. He swallowed in a dry throat and opened his comlink to Rachel and the General.

"Uraki to Ray!" he croaked through a dry throat, "General, come in!" The voice which responded both woke him up and calmed his nerves.

"I saw it Uraki. Both Levin and Barker are dead. Are you still flying?"

"Yes sir." Kyoshi answered, "Do you wish me to regroup with you?"

"Affirmative. Come to course One-one-zero mark Zero-one-five. Accelerate to full velocity and you'll see us just beneath you in six or seven minutes." Kyoshi was at full velocity before Amuro could finish his orders. Though he wasn't one to chicken out and run for cover at the first sign of danger or battle, Kyoshi wasn't stupid enough to fly without backup after an attack such as what just happened.

He saw the two remaining mobile suits cruising beneath him and to his right, and adjusted his flight path to join up. Rachel's suit was flying to Amuro's right, and Kyoshi mirrored her position, settling to the left of Amuro and slightly behind. Amuro's voice cut through the silence.

"We're landing there, in that patch of woods." He ordered, "Whoever was aiming that thing saw us above the tree line." The other two officers agreed and the group descended.

--

Tem and Irina were on a small landing, working to fix a leg servo in the Gundam when the blast occurred. The explosion lit up the sky, and nearly knocked Tem and Irina off of their feet. Tem grabbed a handhold to stay steady. Irina clung to Tem.

"What the fuck was that?!" Irina shouted when the earth shaking stopped.

"No clue!" Tem answered, then pointed up into the air. "But that's a Fed MS!" Under normal circumstances, Irina would have squealed in glee and clapped her hands at the sight of a rescue party. But the MS had narrowly avoided being destroyed by the energy beam and was accelerating away from them. Instead, she and Tem watched it disappear past the tops of the trees, the roar of its engines fading away.

Her arms still around Tem for balance, Irina rested her chin on his shoulder and sighed. Tem noticed that her breath was sweet and pleasant. Must have been the peppermint he offered her earlier.

"Think they saw us?" she asked glumly. Tem could feel her body pressed firmly against his back and tried to repress the masculine urge to protect and comfort his superior officer.

"Possibly" he said, pulling away from her. "I'm going to try to raise them on the comlink." Irina continued to look out to where the detonation occurred. Brownish-gray smoke was rising and pluming over the treetops, most likely the smoke from burning trees and bushes. But as the entire area hadn't gone up in flames, the blast beam was probably concentrated enough not to set more than a few on fire.

She turned and slowly made her way down to ground level. Tem was already in the Gundam's cockpit, trying to raise the nearby MS's over the Gundam's comlink. After a few minutes, he climbed out and slid down to where Irina was standing. She was still looking to the sky.

"Anything?" she asked. Tem shook his head.

"Nothing. They're probably on closed com to prevent giving away their status to whoever fired that thing."

"Oh. Have you ever seen something like that?"

"Nope. But since it's fired twice in the same area, and only when MS's are in the air, I'm gonna guess that it's targeting them." Irina's eyebrows crunched up.

"But why use such a huge…weapon? It's like hitting a mouse with a sledgehammer."

"I don't know that it is a weapon." Tem replied, "It's huge, but its beam is too narrow to do the damage you'd expect from something that destructive. And if it were designed to target mobile suits or something, I think we'd be dead already." Irina huffed.

"Okay, then what do you think it is?"

"I don't know."

--

The three suits stood close together among massive tree trunks, one of them with a large turning antenna extended from its arm. The canopy of the trees above them was thick enough to prevent any orbiting imaging systems from detecting them.

At the robots' feet stood Kyoshi, Amuro and Rachel, a small portable interface display in Amuro's hand. Now that the blast had subsided, the three were concentrating on their original mission. Though there was residual background radiation in all directions, Amuro's MS detected a faint comlink transmission coming from southeast of their position, and the display sowed that it was roughly two or three kilometers away.

Amuro turned to the other pilots.

"The signal is a few kilometers away over there, but we shouldn't have trouble finding it."

"And signals don't send themselves, so we know someone's there." Rachel added, staring at the device over Amuro's shoulder. Kyoshi looked up at his MS, his hands on his hips.

"We're taking the suits, right?" he said, "I mean, if it's Tem and Irina, they'll need transport as soon we can get em out of here. And if it's not –" Amuro cut him off.

"If it's not, then we'll need to defend ourselves."

"Uh, right."

Amuro turned off the interface and walked back to his MS. A signal from his wristwatch and the cockpit moved down two vertical rails to the ground. After climbing in and securing himself, he hit a button and the cockpit moved back up to chest level, then recessed into the suit. Kyoshi and Rachel also re-suited, and the three began marching towards the signal.

--

Tem and Irina had decided to take a break from repairing the Gundam, and returned to the campsite. The damage to the giant robot was more than either of them expected, and they hoped that they could get it to a sitting position where its arms could be used to move and hold large mechanical parts. If they could use the Gundam's arms like two industrial cranes, the repair process would proceed much more quickly. But they still had no way of moving large parts from Irina's immobilized suit to the Gundam. Tem decided to think of how to fix that tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the food supply was holding up, and the body of the assassin had been moved to a holding container attached to one of Gundam's legs. If they were rescued, the body could be taken back and identified, shedding light on who would try to kill Tem or Irina.

Irina unzipped the front flap of the tent and emerged with two cups of hot green tea. Though it wasn't yet dark, the day was getting colder, and tea was an easy way to warm up. She walked over to where Tem was sitting on a fallen tree and sat down next to him.

"Here." she said, handing him the cup. Tem answered with an 'Arigato', and took a long sip. Irina was surprised that he wasn't striking up conversation, as Tem was normally more vocal. She wondered if he had more on his mind than repair and rescue.

"Hey," she said as she nudged him slightly, "What'cha thinking of?" Tem blinked and shook his head slightly.

"Oh, sorry." he mumbled, "Was just wondering who would be shooting at us. That's all." Irina smiled and chuckled to herself.

"Liar." she teased playfully. "You'd be talkin to me if that were it. What're you really thinking of?" Tem stared straight ahead.

"I was hoping that Rachel or my father would be looking for us. I'm sure there's a rescue party, but I was trying to pick up a…hint. Some feeling or vibe that it was my father."

"You mean like a 'Newtype' vibe or something?" Irina asked. Tem nodded once.

"Right, like that. My parents are both Newtypes and – "

"And you're one too, right?"

"Yeah." Irina put a friendly hand on Tem's thigh.

"You know?" she grinned, "You keep up this self-righteous moping long enough, you might just turn into your father." Tem turned to look at his companion and rolled his eyes.

"And save the Federation from the 'evil laser beam'? Whoopee." He made quotation marks with his fingers for 'evil laser beam'. Irina laughed out loud, causing Tem to blush slightly. She then leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Surprised at her affection, Tem turned his face to meet hers.

"Tem Ray" she said, a seductive twinkle in her eyes, "You're about the cutest Ensign I could have been marooned with. Too bad I already have a boyfriend. Otherwise, I might be tempted to seduce you." Tem's face crunched into a half-believing look of worry.

"I have a girlfriend, Commander." Light brown hair fell into blue eyes as Irina cocked her head and placed her hands on her hips.

"Hey, gimme some credit. I bet I could seduce you with one – grab!" With the word 'grab' she playfully lunged her hand down to Tem's crotch. He yelped reflexively and moved to cover the area, unaware that Irina was just joking. She giggled and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

"Better drink your tea, Ensign. It's getting cold." she said as she unzipped the tent and crawled inside. Tem sighed heavily and downed the drink in two gulps.

"Temptress." he muttered, imagining the things Irina could 'do' to him if he allowed her. He quickly reminded himself that Rachel was probably waiting for him back at the base and shook the fantasy away.

A kilometer away, the sound of mobile suits could be heard getting closer.


	7. Chapter 7

Two mobile suits cruised along above the forest canopy at a comfortable speed, their propulsion systems causing the tops of the trees to sway in their wake. The sun wasn't at its apex anymore, but had yet to descend enough to paint the sky in colors other than blue. The two suits had cost the Corporation a pretty penny in funding, but the cost had been justified as a security measure in case the Federal military got wind of Project Helios. Each of the suits looked less like old style Zeon Zakus and more like general issue Gundams with advanced armor and weapons. Both were equipped with sabers and beam cannons, and both were protected with ablative armor and soon a system of energy shields, though the shields would come later. This was a recon/cleanup mission, not an all out battle.

The pilots had been instructed to kill any survivors, and to destroy any lingering suits. Not like there was anything expected to be left, but one could not be too careful when eliminating someone who had so far eluded destruction. The Corporation had spared no expense in the secret orbiting surveillance satellites in orbit of Earth and one of the primary (and classified) reasons for the satellites was as a targeting and acquisition system for the main Weapon. That was, if anyone could guess it as a weapon.

The suits descended slightly lower in order to further narrow their profile against the background.

--

A car came to a stop at the front gate to the Airbase where the missing mobile suits had launched from. The markings on the car revealed it to belong to a retired General, and a guard on duty sauntered over to the vehicle as if he was guarding an outdoor concert. Upon seeing the markings on the windshield, he immediately gave an appropriate salute, then asked to see the identification of the three occupants. The driver gave her ID badge to him and he saluted again. He saw that the ID to the front passenger was one of a civilian, but the card for the rear passenger was of a Colonel. The soldier saluted to the man in back, and the passenger saluted in return. At a nod from the guard the gate opened and the car drove on.

"Who knew being married to a General had its privileges?" Aina joked as Sayla drove down the long boulevard to the main hanger.

"Or to a Captain?" Sayla returned. Shiro didn't even crack a smile. His return to the military was all but officially forced upon him, and the only way to keep his wife and young daughter safe was to take a desk job on an outer colony and quietly rise in rank. He made sure that his postings precluded him from becoming involved in any disputes and situations, and was none to cautious about keeping prying eyes away from his departmental unit. He had sacrificed too much to keep Aina alive. He would be damned if he were to be sent to a dispute or battle, and not come back.

The car rounded a corner, then drove down a road in the middle of an expansive field. It made a right turn and parked in a large parking lot attached to the main mobile suit launch complex. The three occupants exited the vehicle and made a beeline directly for the main doors. The ranking on both Shiro and Sayla's coats caused several passing officers and enlisted to salute, and Aina smiled at each salute.

Shiro opened the door for the women, and the three found themselves in an acoustically muted, but very proper military office building. The carpet was soft and the color schemes induced a kind of quiet in the mind. Sayla indicated for the Amadas to follow her to the main control center. They took an elevator down three floors and exited into a hall way which split into three. The far end wasn't very far away and terminated in double doors guarded by additional soldiers. Sayla led her companions directly ahead where one of the guards lifted a white glove, indicating for them to stop.

"Authorization?" he asked. Shiro waved a badge, and the guard stepped aside, opening the door for the three visitors. They entered the room, which in turn was the Tracking and Surveillance room, and were immediately greeted by the officer in charge. His rank indicated that he was a Rear Admiral, but his mannerisms were more akin to a second year Lieutenant.

"Captain Amada, is it?" the officer said, quickly shaking Shiro's hand. "I'm Admiral Sciurus. Yes, Mrs. Amada? And…Chief Warrant Officer Ray?" He shook both of their hands as he acknowledged them.

"We're sorry for the delay in news or updates, but uh…" he shuffled a bit as he guided them up to the main control desk at the back of the room. It sat on the third level and, looking down, had a near birds eye view of the entire facility. Once the four of them reached the top, the Admiral's hands fidgeted in gesturing as he continued to speak.

"We detected a second, uh…a second blast wave." Sayla and the Amadas snapped their heads to look at the man, trying not to believe what he just said. Sciurus pointed at the main display.

"Two suits were ah…immediately destroyed, but two were far enough from the beam to avoid it and the fifth suit, we um…have confirmed it to be Uraki's, veered off at the last moment. No contact, but the three surviving signals were strong."

"Amuro." Sayla said in a quiet voice, hoping to God that he wasn't one of the pilots killed. The Admiral quelled her fears.

"Oh no-no, The General's signal persisted for a few seconds after the blast, so we…we know that he wasn't one of the dead pilots either. And neither was Mackenzie too. Her signal continued for two seconds after the explosion." Sayla closed her eyes and sighed in relief. He was alright.

"Where is my son?" she demanded softly, the growl in her voice betraying a French accent.

"We're not sure." Sciurus answered. Seeing the anger in Sayla's eyes start to rise, he held a finger up. "But we did get a second comlink transmission in this area, not too far from the energy blast. Of course it was weak and impossible to make out, so we can't confirm the exact source. But it means that either your son, or someone, is in that vicinity." Sayla looked Sciurus directly in the eye.

"Find them."

--

Tem and Irina sat in the tent, several pieces of computer hardware from the Gundam, and the tools to fix it were splayed out on the floor of the tent in front of them. The tent itself was thermally insulated, so they were very comfortably sitting in their t-shirts and underwear, focused on what they were doing. Both of them had a device or item in their hands, and were attempting to fix or repair what they were holding.

Finding that one of the main catches on the unit he was tinkering with wouldn't stay in the right position, Tem reached down for a small screwdriver he could use to hold the catch in place. The moment he reached for the screwdriver, Irina also reached for the same thing. Tem's hand ended up lightly clasping hers and the two paused. They chuckled lightly and he let go, only for her to take his hand in hers, though this time deliberately.

"Hey", she said softly, "I hope I didn't do something wrong outside. I was only trying to be funny, I didn't mean anything by it." Tem didn't know whether to jerk his hand away, or clasp Irina's, or to just let it stay there limply.

"Uh, that's okay" he began, "I mean –". Irina cut him off.

"I want you to know that I'm completely committed to Kiyoshi and wouldn't do anything to betray my love for him. And I know you and the Mackenzie girl are an item, so I um…respect that too. What I mean to say is uh... This is kinda weird, isn't it?" Now it was Tem's turn to be the adult. He smiled and gently slid his hand from Irina's.

"I understand, Commander. Just because we have this kind of 'attraction' going on, doesn't mean we need to act on it. Even if we aren't sure of being rescued and have no clue where the hell we are, we still need to behave as if we were still on a training exercise, right?" Irina nodded.

"Exactly." The two resumed their tinkering, silence once again permeating the air.

"I still wouldn't mind making you a man, though." Irina stated matter-of-fact, just loud enough for Tem to hear.

"Oh?" Tem answered, feeling a bit braver, "And just how do you think you're gonna do that 'Commander Irina'?" Irina set her device and tools down, and hooking her thumbs under each side of her panties began to pull them downward.

"Wanna see?" she said invitingly.

"Okay." Tem answered noncommittally, his mind focused solely on the computer equipment in his hands. Realizing what he had said, he momentarily looked up to see Irina's underwear sliding down over her hips and in a heartbeat Tem shifted to the opposite side of the tent.

"I mean NO!" he near shouted, then lowered his voice. "Dammit ma'am, don't do that." Irina broke into a peel of laughter as she pulled her panties back up and took a piece of the Gundam back into her hands. Tem frowned at the fact that she had 'psyched' him out again. He had to start watching himself or he'd lose all credibility before their ordeal was over. He settled back down next to Irina and secured the catch on the lock mechanism in place. Then he reached for a few cables and interface card.

"At least you know how to properly salute a superior officer, mister." Irina mentioned, pointing casually with a screwdriver. Tem looked down, then immediately reached out for his pants.

--

Less than a kilometer away from the source of the signal, the three mobile suits stopped dead in their tracks. Two bogies were closing in on their position from the east, at their 10 o'clock. The first suit removed both beam saber hilts and held them at waist height, ready to activate. The second dropped to one knee, using it to perch an elbow and help maintain a level shot with the beam rifle. The third removed a beam axe handle and portable Minovsky shield handle from its hip clips.

Whatever was coming in, they were ready to engage it.

--

The supersonic jet roared up into the outer atmosphere, reaching speeds well in excess of Mach 12. As it reached its standard cruising height, the engines cut back to normal operating power, diminishing to a dull purr. Though more energy was required to reach the desired altitude, so much less was spent at such a greater speed up here that the cost invariably worked itself out.

But Char Aznable couldn't care less about the cost of the jet fuel needed to transport him to the central headquarters of the Corporation. He had a meeting to attend, and had also just seen a news report about the second laser shot from the Helios. Against the advice of several advisors, Char had sent two experimental mobile suits to finish the kill, or at the very least confirm it. He would have to have those advisors 'fired'.

'The cabin seems comfortable, if modest', he thought. All interior cushions were in ivory-colored leather, the floors were covered with woven Persian rug, and most of the other surfaces were of a rare hardwood from Australia called "Kauri". It had a dark, beautiful grain which almost perfectly reflected Char's face in it's surface. Apparently, the Corporation spared no expense in flying him back after the financial summit. Even the wine was a good vintage, a '71. Char smiled to himself, then noticed the crow's feet at the corners of his eyes, and his smile fell. He checked that off as something else which needed to be fixed.

"Mr. Aznable?", a voice asked, resonating in Char's ear with none of the joyful cheeriness of the other attendants. He looked up into the large brown eyes of an absolutly beautiful young attendant and was rendered almost speechless.

Her long black hair flowed down her back, and also over her shoulders, and she sported heavy bangs which were cut just beneath her very straight eyebrows. Her body (and chest for that matter) wasn't the most rounded or voluptuous of all the women Char had encountered, but she had a healthy aura about her which he had grown weary for. 'And besides', Char thought, 'bras and blouses often hide more than they show'. The girl's face still had that young, almost child-like quality which was near impossible to find in most women. Char noticed that her chin was a bit recessed, and her cheeks slightly plump, giving her a softness he could appreciate. Her skirt came down just past her knees, showing exquisitly toned calfs which lead to near non-existant ankles and a pair of small, slender feet fit gently in modest heels. To his amazement, Char was completely taken with this girl, and not at all ashamed about it. He smiled warmly.

"Yes?"

"Is there anything we can get for you to help you enjoy your flight?" Again the proper but reserved sound.

"That's very sweet of you, Ms…?" The girl shifted a bit and cleared her throat.

"Rebecca, sir." she said, looking at the ground, "Rebecca Danette Martain." Char chuckled lightly and gestured for her to sit down on the couch across from him.

"Well, Miss Rebecca Danette Martain," he began smoothly, "Your company would be most enjoyable indeed. Please, sit."

"I guess I could sit down for a few minutes." Rebecca said as she sat on the edge of the couch and straightened her skirt, making sure to keep her feet and knees together. Char poured her a glass of white wine, and offered it to her. She accepted with a soft 'thank you' and held it by the stem, taking care not to touch the bowl of the wine glass, lest she accidently warm the drink with her body heat. Char noticed this.

"I can see you're a girl of good taste, Rebecca." he said, "Do civilized manners come naturally to you, or were you taught them by the Corporation?" Rebecca's eyes darted up to Char, then back to the wine glass in her hand.

"It's how I was raised, Mr. Aznable. I…I mean, my family, has some wealth, and they brought me up with the belief that being a lady is more than just clothing and makeup. It's how a woman just…is. I guess." She fell silent, feeling that she had already answered with too much.

Char took care as well not to look too interested in Rebecca. Though he could hardly contain his complete fascination with this young woman, and could explain it even less, he knew that most women such as Rebecca could be easily soured to him if he came on to strongly, or aggresivly. But for all his calm demeanor and relaxed attitude and confident aura, Char somehow knew that this girl saw right through it.

This fascinated him. Most women he had encountered were either too arrogent, too flighty, or too immature to truly see the man beneath "Char Aznable", to see Casval Rem Deikun. But Rebecca, with all her nervousness and propriety, seemed to communicate to him that she knew what "Char" was, and wasn't interested. For a moment, Char wanted to open himself up to her, wanted to be "Casval".

But he kept that too in check. He may be right about Rebecca, or it may be his own personal desire for her clouding his vision. He couldn't take the chance.

"Well spoken, Rebecca." he answered her, "So few women understand this, and fewer practice it. It's commendable."

Rebecca quietly thanked him and took a sip of her wine, then looked back down at her feet, her eyes devoid of "jolly lunacy" which so common among other Phoenix Air personell. Something about her seemed missing. Or perhaps it was just her way to hide her emotions in this manner. Regardless of which theory would resolve itself, Char found himself sinking deeper in love.


	8. Chapter 8

Hopping down from the couch with a happy trill, the calico cat walked lazily into the kitchen where its owner stood over the sink, cleaning the last pots and pans from dinner. Seeing the woman there, the cat trotted up to her and slinked its way between her legs, calling loudly to be fed.

"Okay, Kitty-kitty" she reassured, brushing her red hair over her left ear, "Lemme dry my hands and I'll feed you." Kitty-kitty continued meowing as the woman filled a tiny cat dish with specially made cat food. Chicken breast, bone meal, fish offal, and other carnivorous stuffs filled the pet bowl. The woman rested the bowl down on the tile kitchen floor. Kitty-kitty needed no coaxing to eat.

Hearing the sound of the bowl contacting the floor, a small Chihuahua sprinted into the kitchen and barked loudly for its share. The woman chuckled.

"No-no, Taquito" she admonished gently, picking the wide-eyed dog up into her hands, "You've already been fed."

As she set the dog back down, the woman heard the video phone ring. She moved to answer it, but another woman's voice responded first. Satisfied that it was answered, she returned to the dishes, listening to the voice's responses with interest.

"Yes? Yes this is the Mackenzie residence. No, Rachel isn't here. Hold on, I'll get her mother. Christina?" The woman in the kitchen rinsed her hands and dried them on the towel hanging through the space in the refrigerator door handle, then walked to the living room videophone. Her mother and father were visiting for dinner and her mother had answered the vidphone.

"What is it, mom?" Chris answered. Her mother pointed to the vidphone and moved out of the way so that Chris could speak to the young woman on the other end.

"Is this Rachel's mother?"

"Yes, who's this?"

"I'm calling from Dr. Akelo's office about the test results." A look of confusion crossed Chris' face.

"What results? What test?" she asked. The woman on the other end craned her neck as if to make sure Chris was alone, then returned to her normal posture and looked at the clip board in front of her. Here eyebrows bounced once.

"The results of Rachel's exam. The results are positive and she's definitely…Oh wait, this is private. I can't tell you." Chris became a visibly irritated at the comment.

"I'm her mother." The nurse rolled her eyes.

"I'm aware of that ma'am.", she explained, "But these results are for the patient only. Sorry, patient-doctor confidentiality. You understand, right?" Chris sighed.

"If you can't tell me, why did you call?" The nurse looked visibly uncomfortable.

"Again, sorry ma'am. But I thought she was home. Is there another number where I can reach her? Her cell phone won't answer."

"Fine." She said, tapping the glass panel on the coffee table. It immediately lit up and presented a lighted outline of a QWERTY keyboard and numerical keypad. Chris typed a string of numbers and dashes.

"This is my daughter's apartment phone number. Call her and leave a message on her voice mail." The nurse went to respond but Chris tapped the comm channel closed.

Chris' mother picked up Taquito and began petting the nervous little dog.

"That was strange." she said, "Everything's okay I hope." Chris petted the dog's head and mocked the nurse's voice.

" 'The results are positive and she's definitely.' Definitely what?"

As Chris was about to respond, her father sauntered into the room, a can of lager in hand. He was a large-boned man with a equally impressive beer gut. His thinning white hair was slightly disarrayed, and his bifocals sat precariously at the end of his fat, bulbous nose.

"Sounds like she was about to say something like 'definitely diabetic' or 'definitely pregnant'." he said gruffly, "I can see the first. That girl eats far too much sugar. But the way she talked about Tem when she was here…It had better not be the second." Chris's mother gave him a defiant look.

"And if it was, James?" she asked, "What then?" The elderly man sighed as he sat next to her at the table.

"I don't know, Emma."

"Then don't come in here swaggering in like you own the place." she rebuked, "If Rachel _is_ pregnant, and if it is the Ray boy, then we should be happy that it's him and not some man we know nothing about. Besides, I hear that Amuro and Sayla Ray are good people."

Ignoring her parents' conversation, Christina Mackenzie thought back to any indication of what the nurse was talking about. A thought popped in and her eyes lit up, along with a cold sense of dread. She quickly walked over to the staircase, tromping her way up to the second level. She remembered Rachel not letting her see the contents of a plastic bag she brought home a few nights ago.

Her fears were confirmed. The plastic bag in the bathroom trash contained a used home pregnancy test and a small worksheet for figuring out how far along a woman was counting forward from her last menstrual cycle. The worksheet was filled out in Rachel's handwriting, a small smiley face drawn next to the printed option of "Congratulations!"

But Chris didn't feel like smiling. Instead, her heart fell. The nurse's voice came back as an echo; 'The results are positive and she's definitely…'

"…she's definitely _pregnant_", Chris finished in her mind. "Oh God, not again! Why does it have to happen to Rachel too?" Tears began to fall as Chris sat down on the closed toilet next to the bathroom sink. In a flash, she relived the stigma, the pain, of being a single mother. So what if Bernie had died? So what if Tem Ray was alive, and the son of a prominent and heroic couple? None of those reasons were enough to sway Christina from remembering the incredible difficulty in raising a child out of loving wedlock. She thought she had raised Rachel to be careful, to not to fall into the same trap.

Apparently, she thought wrong.


End file.
